Ontological insecurity and subjective feelings of unsafety: Analysing socially constructed fears in Italy

Riccardo Valente; Sergi Valera Pertegas

doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.11.007

Ontological insecurity and subjective feelings of unsafety: Analysing socially constructed fears in Italy

Soc Sci Res. 2018 Mar:71:160-170. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.11.007. Epub 2017 Nov 27.

Authors

Riccardo Valente¹, Sergi Valera Pertegas²

Affiliations

¹ University of Barcelona, Institute of Research in Education, Pg. de la Vall d'Hebrón 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: valente_riccardo@ub.edu.
² University of Barcelona, Department of Social Psychology, Pg. de la Vall d'Hebrón 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: svalera@ub.edu.

PMID: 29514756
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.11.007

Abstract

Perception of insecurity arises as a complex social phenomenon affected by factors that go beyond actual crime rates. Previous contributions to the field of fear of crime studies have shown, for instance, that the perception of social and physical disorder may generate insecurity among residents even in contexts where crime is comparatively low. Meanwhile, sociological approaches have led to a conceptualization of insecurity as an umbrella sentiment grounded in a wider feeling of unease. Building further on this assumption, data gathered in a large-scale survey in Italy (n = 15,428) were analysed by implementing exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with the objective of assessing the validity of a model of "ontological insecurity". The results of our analysis support a conceptualization of insecurity where socially constructed anxieties (due to health and financial precariousness), as well as ethnic, sexual and religious-based stigmatization, play a prominent role in determining an individual's feeling of insecurity.

Keywords: Anxieties; Disorder; Factor analysis; Ontological insecurity; Social exclusion; Subjective perception.